Transient arrested in school incident

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A transient was arrested Thursday morning on charges related to damaged property at Presque Isle High School and after he was found with stolen items in his possession.

Sgt. Laurie Kelly of the Presque Isle Police Department said Thursday that Michael Perry, 51, was arrested by police and charged with burglary, criminal mischief and theft stemming from the incident.

Kelly said that Perry, a transient who just came to town over the summer, is well known to police.

Police were called to the high school in the morning after reports came in that Perry reportedly was pulling up shrubs and flowers on the property and doing other damage to the facility.

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When police arrived, they searched Perry and discovered various odds and ends in his possession — none of which belonged to him, police said.

“They were just little things he had gone around and collected from local businesses and warehouses,” she said. “Some of those things he had actually gone inside buildings and taken, so that was why he was hit with the burglary charge.”

Kelly said she is not sure where Perry is from originally. She said that when questioned by police in the past, he sometimes has pretended that he cannot speak.

Perry was taken Thursday afternoon to the Aroostook County Jail in Houlton.